<p>I've just discovered the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago <a href="http://socialthought.uchicago.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://socialthought.uchicago.edu/</a> and I was wondering: what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing a PhD at an interdisciplinary program like this versus a more traditional history or philosophy PhD elsewhere? And I know UChicago's reputation looms large, but do you think this would help with job placement, hinder it, or make no difference? I'm willing to consider jobs outside academia, too. I noticed one of their graduates is a culture critic for the NY Times.</p>
<p>Extra info: I'm double majoring in classics and philosophy and, if I do decide to go into a PhD program, it would probably be in history or religious studies.
I read through their website and the breadth of study definitely appeals to me. I even found a mock exam--- it looked challenging, but fun too. I'm not even close to thinking about grad school yet, but this looks like a unique opportunity that I'll have to give some serious thought.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>If you were to do your PhD through CST and apply for professorial positions in the field of religious studies, every interviewer's first question would be "why did you study through CST rather than Chicago's Divinity School?" This is because Chicago's Div School program in History of Religions is the top religious studies PhD program in the nation. And even though Doniger and Tracy are on the CST, Lincoln and Gilpin and Robinson, etc. are not. and in academia, hiring departments ALWAYS want assurance that a candidate is thoroughly prepared in theory and method as practiced in THEIR discipline. For religious studies, it's the Div School.</p>
<p>Now, if you wanted to teach in a dept. of Philosophy, or History, that would be a different story.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn't know that the Divinity School was so highly regarded. I haven't been able to figure out the hierarchy of religious studies programs..... and if I did go into that field, I would almost certainly be studying early Christianity. I'm taking New Testament Greek right now and one of the topics I'm considering for my undergraduate thesis deals with Paul's condemnation of homosexuality.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up!</p>
<p>Chicago has an AMAZING div school! For early Christianity, also consider UNC and Princeton.</p>
<p>You also might encounter some resistance outside of Chicago because of the CST's history. It was run by Allan Bloom, a man whose ideas, political positions, personality, and some would say hypocrisy, are widely-hated in much of academia.</p>
<p>Allan Bloom and the CST are affilited very strongly with the formation of the neo-con movement through the likes of Paul Wolfowitz.</p>
<p>I would go the Divinity School route, because yes, UChicago's Divinity School is fantastic.</p>
<p>After what previous posters have said, I've started looking into some of the Div School faculty, mostly in the field of early Christianity. At the same time, I looked up certain professors on 'RateMyProfessor.com' just to see what students think of them. I know that sort of thing isn't really objective, but I found it somewhat encouraging that every professor in the department had very high marks from students. Just about every single rating said something like 'this is what a teacher should be' or some variant.</p>
<p>This committee title sounds so McCarthyism-like, or, in contrast, rather like a Communist institution.</p>
<p>Herodotus--</p>
<p>ratemyprofessor is a junk version of Chicago's own monitoring system, which is now, unfortunately, closed to the public. I don't know any of the ECL faculty, but I have friends who are studying ECL as undergrads and have had wonderful experiences.</p>